No, they are not eliminated. In fact, as astounding as it sounds after all that's happened, the Mets still control their own fate. If they win all of the rest of their games, they'll do no worse than qualify for a one-game home playoff against Milwaukee to get into the postseason. They are a modest winning streak away from getting in.

But I'm not seeing it. Not after this latest loss.

"Man, that's bad," interim manager Jerry Manuel said when it was over. "That's bad. That's bad. At this juncture, got to be our toughest defeat, no question."

This is not a man who overstates the case. This was a gut-punch that knocked the wind out of the Mets, and it's going to be awfully tough for them to get it back before it's too late. The Brewers, who a week ago looked as if they'd out-collapse everybody, are scheduled to beat the Pirates again Thursday night for their fourth win in a row. The Marlins are resting their regulars in preparation for this weekend's series at Shea, because they hate the Mets so much and want to once again be the team that eliminates them.

And oh yeah. A nor'easter is roaring up the coast, threatening to rain out the next three games and throw the whole starting rotation into a blender.

So this game here Wednesday night -- the one that was sitting there gift-wrapped, tied with a runner on third and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth with the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters coming up?

Might've been a good one to win.

"This is not one of those bullpen-type of things," Manuel said.

Not at all. The Mets don't get too rattled when the bullpen blows it. They know their bullpen stinks, and they don't expect much. But in this game, the bullpen was actually kind of good. Oliver Perez was the initial goat, failing to make it through five innings after Carlos Delgado's grand slam gave him the lead and seemed to push Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano off the deep end. The bullpen came in and did a fine job over innings six through nine.

And the Cubs kept trotting out relievers they normally wouldn't use late in a tight game -- guys who are auditioning for spots in the division series bullpen. They used Kevin Hart for the seventh, Jeff Samardzija for the eighth, Bob Howry for the ninth. No sign of Carlos Marmol, no Kerry Wood (until the 10th, when everybody just wanted to go home).

These guys were all gettable. The Mets put a runner on third base with nobody out in the seventh but failed to score -- robbed, really, when Daniel Murphy's liner smacked the pocket of Derrek Lee's glove and turned into a double play. They put a runner on third base with nobody out in the eighth, and he did score -- on a bases-loaded walk of Ramon Martinez with two outs. But they got no more there.

And then they put a runner on third with nobody out in the ninth. Murphy led off the inning with a triple. As Murphy coasted into third, Howry whacked his glove in frustration -- a man who believed he'd lost the game. David Wright, Delgado and Carlos Beltran were the next three hitters, and there were more ways to score that run than to not score it. The outfield came in. The infield came in. The count went to 3-0 on Wright, who basically needed only to hit a fair ball to win the game.

And then Wright struck out, and the whole game turned. Intentional walks of the two remaining threats in the lineup brought it to Ryan Church, who's toast, and Ramon Castro, who struck out to end the inning. Threat over, chance over, playoff hopes ... not quite over, but man. After this, can you really still believe they're going to make it?

"We've got to have an optimistic mind-set," Wright said. "The glass is half-full, and it's a four-game season. It all comes down to these four games."

In them, Wright will have chances to atone for this one. He's hitting .243 this year with runners in scoring position, and Wednesday night he could have won the game with an out if he'd just put the ball in play. Can you imagine how we'd all be howling this morning if New York's other third baseman had pulled this same thing?

Wright keeps saying all the right things. He said he took the at-bat he wanted but didn't get the results. Sounds nice, and perhaps all will be forgiven if the rain holds off, he has a big weekend and the Mets make it to October.

But I don't know. After this latest loss ... sorry to say it, but the Mets may be done.